As you all know, today is September 11. It is the eighth September 11 since the attacks in 2001. I am posting this as 7:28 AM PST, which is the exact moment when the North Tower collapsed.
I want to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives on that fated day and those who lost loved ones. Nobody should ever forget what happened on that day and what it meant for this country and the entire world.
I don't want to get too wordy here, but I will just recap where I was and what I was doing when I found out about the attacks.
For some reason, I had woken early that morning. I ate breakfast and was ready for school well before we had to leave, so I went to my room and was reading. After some time, my brother came running into the room and told me to come to the television.
I went into the family room, and found my entire family riveted around the television. I must have been hearing about the news just as it was occurring because the reports were vague and sometimes contradictory.
My mom and brother had to go to the doctor, and I stayed at home waiting for the carpool to pick me up. In the meantime, I took notes on what was happening so I could tell my mom and brother. For some reason, I didn't think that they'd find out from anybody else.
I guess I failed to grasp that nothing like this had ever happened before, so of course they would get their news from a more reliable source than a 9 year old with a post-it note.
That's all I really have to say. Where were you and what were you doing when you learned about the attacks? This question goes for Americans and foreigners.
14 comments:
Thank you for sharing your story with us. It was a very sad day and unfortunately it was used as propaganda for an unneeded war. But alas, thats life.
Lots of love,
Ryan
My nephew was beginning his sophomore year at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He needed a vehicle to transport his string bass to gigs that he was getting, and I had gone there to help him make his choice, along with his parents who had come from Japan. At about 9:00 on a cloudless Tuesday morning we went to an area where there were many dealerships all next to each other. We walked into one and were asked if we knew what was happening. We joined the staff in front of the TV and saw the second tower being hit, which made it clear that this was no accident. We saw the towers collapse. Meanwhile, we needed to make a purchase, so we checked out some vehicles, settled on one that would do the job, made the purchase, and returned to the city. My return to Boston later in the week was by bus because the airplanes were still grounded.
My town has a brief ceremony every 9/11 at 10:00 a.m., conducted by the Fire and Police Departments, to remember and honor the firefighters, police, EMT's and first responders who gave their lives trying to save others in danger. Of course, it is in the context of remembering the attacks themselves and the initial victims.
It was certainly a day that changed the course of history in ways that are still unfolding.
Jason - I was living and working in London on 9/11. My wife and newborn daughter were visiting her parents in the US and so we were apart on that day. I was having lunch in my office and helping to prepare my boss for a presentation when things started to happen. I called home and asked her to please get in front of the television and not hang up the phone. We watched the second plane crash simultaneously, over 6000 miles apart.
I watched the BBC online for a while and then switched to a small television in the lobby of our building. There were a few other American expatriates in my office and most of them left the office immediately.
Our vice president of sales was on a plane from London to New York and his wife called me from Belgium in tears because she had no idea of his travel plans. He ended up spending a week in Newfoundland with a very generous family before he could return to Brussels.
Around 4pm local time I took a train to my empty home. A few of my English neighbors came around the house and sat with me while I stayed glued to the television for the next several days. I could not sleep or eat and was barely functional.
On September 13 I took the tube into Grosvenor Square to visit the American embassy and nearly broke down in tears at the outpouring of support from our British hosts. You just cannot image the scene there, with hundreds of Britons and Americans forming an impromptu memorial in what quickly became a demilitarized zone within central London.
It took another several weeks for me to be reuinted with my family and we immediately began preparations for my return to the US which would take another year to complete.
By far, this was the single worst day I have ever lived through in my life.
Jason, see my blog. Same goes to others. Propz Pilgrim
Several images stand out:
A middle-aged tradesman standing in a restaurant watching the television. He was wearing jeans, a tool belt and a plaid shirt. The look on his face was cold fury.
The sight of a businessman in a suit, his tie waiving in the breeze, diving from the tower. The incongruity was startling. He had dressed to go to work that morning, and the first decision of the day was whether he would perish by fire or by collision with a sidewalk. Imagine that mental transaction--Its time to die; do I burn or fly?
Goodby wife, kids, dog, electric bill...
The ordinary heroism of the people on Flight 93, who decided if they were doomed they'd take the holy bastards with them.
It's been eight years and we still haven't caught bin Laden. I still want to see him stuffed and on display in the Smithsonian.
J
I live halfway across the Earth from where you are and there's only 15 minutes left till it becomes September 12. Where I school, no one made a mention of 9/11 and I only realised the significance of the date a few hours ago. I'm not sure what that says, but I find it interesting that some people (including myself) have forgotten the day our world change.
SS
Thank you so much for all the comments you guys made. They were all very well written and heartfelt. Thanks for sharing your stories. The only we can we can prevent this day from being forgotten is by sharing what we felt during those moments 8 years ago. We should never forget what it was like to go through that time.
8 years ago eh? That's a long time.
I was in my sophomore year of high school. I believe I was in 2nd hour, symphony orchestra. We were halfway through rehearsal when an announcement came over the PA. We stopped playing and put our instruments down. There were no TVs in the room, so all we knew was what we were told.
After that class we went to our next classes. For me it was Spanish. The TV was on and we watched it, but there was nothing new. They kept playing the same things over and over again. After that class the principal decided it was best to end school early and have everyone go home.
When I arrived home, even my parents were already home with the TV on. I was frustrated that the info on the news was still the same as was on an hour earlier, and I suppose my frustration came across as being rude or insensitive.
The TV was on all day as we waited to see what else was going on. We woke up early the next day to see if there were any more updates. I believe school was also canceled that day as well.
i was very young at the time, and in school. i remember during class the teacher was gone for a long time.... but never knew why
when i got home my parents told me about it.... but i didnt grasp it's importance
i was on the 2nd day of a new contract assignment. someone sitting next to me said that a plane had crashed into the wtc. i assumed it was a light aircraft, and tried to access the bbc news website but couldn't from then on. someone managed to pull up a sky news web page once, which had a photo of the smoke plume, but all other web access was totally clogged.
a bit later on i snuck off to the engineer's room and watched a portable tv for a bit.
i remember it vividly, but i didn't see the 2nd plane hit, nor either tower collapse live. when i got home i was up til about llike 3am or so, clicking between bbc news channel and cnn.
there a single photo tribute on my blog.
take care
torchy!
Jason
I wa working that morning and we were al glued to radios and talking to people on the phone
its something we shll never forget
take care and be safe
bob
In the summer of 2001 we went to see my sister who had been working in DC, and while visiting her we spent several days in New York City. We never dreamed, as we took the elevator to the top, that those two Towers would be gone within weeks.
The first plane hit while I was driving to work. There were little TVs and radios going all over the office and no one got any work done. I certainly couldn't think and doubt anyone else could, either. We closed the office a few hours early so everyone could go home. I got home and sat on the sofa in front of the TV with Phil and just cried. The constant shots of people leaping from the buildings to their deaths was especially horrible.
My thoughts the next day were we needed to find the terrorists responsible and deal with them without starting any wars and/or turning other nations against us. It's sickening that the exact opposite is what was done.
This day, i went to visit my parents. My mother was stressed by the events, thinking about world war, with a little fear;(she lived the second world war.
i was surprised.
I stayed half an hour. And i saw the second plane going in the tower, listening about the pentagone.
Inside me, i hoped that american understood the silly, mad politic of Bush. It was a logical event.
But, we are democratic nation and i were disappointed fotrall those innocent.
I remember my grand-father, great resistant during the second world war : "war are made by persons who know themselves but this is persons who don't know themselves who paied that.
i came back home, i watched/ listened information during the day, working.
Some days after, i meet a friend, military professonnel. the force of my country was at maximum since 6:00 o'clock. They were ewaiting a big event, out of europe, but risked for us too.
prepared or not ?
a great show for a war or a real attack between two civilisation ?
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